Stricker, Martin

3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Salzburger Nachrichten - Austria | 20/02/2014

"USSR light" in danger

Moscow has too much to lose in Ukraine, the conservative daily Salzburger Nachrichten writes: "Although large parts of the old empire - Poland, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia - have all been definitively lost to the West, Ukraine, with its 45 million inhabitants, is to be the crown jewel in Putin's planned 'Eurasian Union', a sort of USSR light. If Moscow can't stop Ukraine's westward march, the whole project will fail. Especially since the other chosen members of Putin's Union have shown little enthusiasm. ... But much more than that is at stake in Kiev. If the Ukrainians manage to take their country in the direction of European democracy, could this perhaps also serve as a model for Russia? A horror scenario for a president who's afraid of the young women in Pussy Riot, to say nothing of a couple of environmentalists and human rights activists."

Thatcher's remedies no longer work

Opinions were divided about Margaret Thatcher during her time in office but today it's clearer than ever that her neo-liberal policies didn't work, the Christian-liberal daily Salzburger Nachrichten comments: "The withdrawal of the state from its controlling function has led to a painful loss in regulating competence. Since the crash in 2008 we have all suffered the consequences of the unrestrained financial trickery with the City of London as Europe's hub. And England? It's stuck in an extremely persistent economic and financial crisis, and Prime Minister David Cameron is doing what Thatcher did - cutting spending and putting his faith in the free market. But these remedies no longer fit the bill. The omnipotent healing powers of the market are - as we now know - an illusion, and there's little money left to save in the UK. The Maggie Thatcher era is over and done with."

ND and Pasok should disband

The Greek traditional parties Nea Dimokratia and Pasok should disband as quickly as possible, writes the Christian-liberal daily Salzburger Nachrichten, because they are to blame "for the fact that the state is rotten to the core and has been stripped bare of all its assets. ... Nea Dimokratia and Pasok lack both credibility and political morals. They are incapable of motivating society to make a fresh start. Reform and change are foreign concepts to them. Yet that would be the first, crucial step: we take on the challenge, we build a new state, a real one this time, and our partners in the EU help us to do it. Enough of playing the victim. Nea Dimokratia and Pasok are masters of cheating, disguise and deception. That's over now. They should dissolve themselves and make way for new parties. Greece would thank them for it."